Five people, all with different disabilities taking on a 2000km cycle expedition across Australia - what could possibly go wrong?
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The team of five friends, who are long-standing adventurers, are coming together for this latest challenge in September.
Over six to seven weeks they will ride across sand, mud and tarmac from Lake Eyre, the lowest point in Australia at 15 metres below sea level, to Mt Kosciusko, the highest point in Australia at 2228 metres above sea level.
Inspired by the Australian expedition dubbed “Sea to Summit”, where Australian mountaineer Tim McCartney-Snape journeyed from the Bay of Bengal in India to the top of Mount Everest, Tasmanian Paul Pritchard came up with the idea of “Lowest to Highest”.
He rang up his old friend in Devonport Walter van Praag, who has cystic fibrosis, and pitched his wild idea.
“I never say no, I say yes to everything, I say ‘awesome fantastic’,” Mr van Praag said.
“Some people always say, ‘Is this the right thing to do? Is this the right time to do it? Are these the right people to do it with?’, I just say, ‘yes let's do it’ and iron out the little problems later.
“It’s something that’s never been done before, no one has gone from the lowest to the highest in Australia that we know of, so for a team of disabled people to do it [is something].”
The advantage of a team of five is each can help the other.
“Duncan [Meerding] is blind so he won’t be able to see; Paul is hemiplegic from his rock injury so he can only move half his body, so they’re on a tandem bike where Duncan can put in the power because he’s got the healthy legs … and Paul with his brace and one side working can power the back end and steer,” Mr van Praag said.
“Then we’ve got the other guy [Daniel Kojta] who is paraplegic, and spinal nerve damage is another one [Conrad Wainsboroug] and he’s able-bodied but in a lot of pain, and then me with no breath.”
The challenge would be difficult even without the added complications, but as Paul Pritchard said on the group’s fundraising website, "being disabled does not mean you are unable”.
“Everyone needs help sometimes and by helping each other on the ride, we will show that with a little help, everyone, disabled or not, is capable of extraordinary things. It's the journey of disability in a nutshell - uphill, hard, tough and ultimately rewarding,” Mr Pritchard says.
Mr van Praag has experience of similar expeditions to the one planned, his last adventure involved him cycling across the Nullabor, so he has some idea of what to expect.
“I need electricity for nebulisers, I need refrigeration for medicine, I need insulin, I need a proper diet – how’s that all going to work? But I just know you make it work, you’re careful, you take day by day and you have a little bit of luck,” he said.
“We’re going to have to help each other … I know I’ll be okay, they know they'll be okay and together we’ll work it out, and we have fantastic support.”
Along the way the team will have speaking engagements at schools and in communities, to inspire people as to what they can achieve.
[We want to] show people, inspire people, that no matter what their circumstances are they can do something, they can make things happen.
- Walter van Praag
“[We want to] show people, inspire people, that no matter what their circumstances are they can do something, they can make things happen,” Mr van Praag said.
“We’re pushing the boundaries, [and] that they can do the same; just because they’re remote or because they're aboriginal or because they are diabetic or whatever shouldn’t stop them.”
The team is still seeking monetary support for their expedition as well as funding for a documentary, which will be created by Tasmanian production house RUMMIN productions.
They hope the film will inspire people.
For those who want to support the film, donations can be made at pozible.com/project/lowest-to-highest. To support the expedition visit www.lowest2highest.com.au.